Bush tax cuts: Live or let die?

Nearly four years after he left office, George W. Bush still looms large in the political wars in Washington. Under the ex-president, Congress cut taxes on income, estates, dividends and capital gains. Most of the Bush tax cuts were due to sunset in 2010.

President Obama campaigned in 2008 on a pledge to let the tax cuts lapse for households earning more than $250,000 a year. But he cut a deal with Republicans after the 2010 elections, extending the Bush tax cuts for all incomes for another two years. In return, he got an extension of unemployment benefits and his own payroll tax cut.

Now, as the president runs for re-election, he's again vowing not to extend the tax cuts for upper-income earners. Republicans are calling for keeping the lower rates for all, or dropping them further.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says extending all the tax cuts would cut federal revenues by at least $2.7 trillion over the next 10 years — a daunting sum at a time of annual trillion-dollar deficits. Letting the tax cuts expire for households at the level the president proposes would reduce the hit on the treasury to about $2 trillion.

Those who argue for keeping the cuts say lower tax rates would persuade businesses to invest more, creating more jobs and more tax revenue. One of today's columnists is especially interested in keeping lower rates on dividends.

Those on the other side of the argument, including the other columnist, say the nation can't afford the cost of extending all the tax cuts. They say the contention that low tax rates create jobs isn't backed up by history.